The new book entitled A Parent’s Guide to Special Education by Dr. Linda Wilmhurst and Dr. Alan Brue represents itself as an "insider’s" guide to the system. I am happy to report that the book lives up to this claim especially regarding the process of psychological testing.
Both authors are school psychologists and it shows in the emphasis of the book. More than half of the book is devoted to chapters on psychological assessment. This topic is broken down into chapters on: an overview of the assessment process, intelligence and ability testing and a separate chapter on understanding special education labels. Psychological testing and the whole assessment process is an area where parents, even ones who are very well informed and experienced, can get lost in the maze of jargon and concepts. This testing is also fraught with emotions and value judgments that can paralyze many parents, and hamper their advocacy. This book tackles those issues in a readable way without oversimplification. The graphics and illustrations are clear and the needed concepts are well covered. The book also has many pointers for more effective advocacy.
The book has sample forms and an appendix of resources that are helpful. The book should have also contained resources for the names, addresses, and on-line information for the publishers of the various tests discussed. Parents need to know not only the particulars of the testing process, they also should investigate whether a particular test is applicable for their child. For instance, the Pro-ed Corporation publishes many commonly used assessment instruments for students with disabilities, and details the applicable population of students and the normative parameters of the tests. A useful resource for addresses and websites for test publishers, and publishers of books that are disability-related can be found at NICHY. Monologues on psychological testing are available even to the non-psychologist at the websites for the the National Association of School Psychologists and the American Psychological Association, although some articles may only be available in abstract form. I have also used other useful guides to educational assessments. I certainly recommend this book to parents, and even to other attorneys and advocates, to assist in the process of effective advocacy.